Life in the Philippines is tough and it is no wonder that many in the country depend on remittances from their families abroad. Being a country where the culture rewards those that help their families, it is no surprise that remittances to the Philippines are some of the highest in the world.

There are very many ways to send money to the Philippines. In fact, one is spoilt for choice and you have to consider the costs as well as the convenience before you settle on one method.

Sending Money to the Philippines through Banks: There are very many banks in the Philippines that have an international presence. These include Citibank, PNB Europe, RCBC Telemoney, UCPB and BPI Remittance.

These banks have invested a lot in international money transfers. It is also one of the most secure ways to transfer funds to the Philippines. If the recipient has an Automated teller Machine (ATM) card, the transfer is faster and safer.

Some banks in the Philippines also deliver the funds door to door. If that is not possible, the recipient just has to pick the money from one of their branches or pick up locations.

Send Money to the Philippines Online: Some companies such as TransFast.com have come up with a unique way to transfer money to the Philippines. You log on to your online account and send money using your bank account or debit or credit card.

Even with these choices, it is important to use the services that you can trust. Most of these companies have a solid reputation. Thus, cost and convenience will be your major determining factor in transferring money to the Philippines.

Now we can send money to the Philippines online the cheapest way. Money transfer has never been so accessible, secure and affordable. Whatever country you are, sending money to your loved ones will just be a click away. To some, a corner away. In minutes, your money will be received by your love ones abroad electronically.

Filipinos are everywhere around the world, working, living or exploring overseas. Millions of Filipinos are exploring abroad to bite any work opportunities not only because the economy in the Philippines is poor but simply because the exchange rate is an awesome advantage when you came back to your mother land.

Earning in dollar, euro, yen, riyal or pound and being away from home, you must know the best and legal ways to send and transfer money to your loved ones in the Philippines. Many agents cater money transfer services worldwide and international money transfer is just a click away in the modern world. Anyone doesn’t need to go to a money transfer outlet to send money overseas because anyone can now send money online.

Many Filipinos living abroad and their foreign partners regular send money to the Philippines. There are a number of ways to send money to the Philippines, each with their own pros and cons.

Sending Money in Letters

The cheapest but most insecure mode of sending money is putting banknotes in a letter. You’re changes that it actually arrives are probably smaller than that it disappears, unless you use registered mail or a courier service such as DHL or FedEx. However, in such cases the cost will quickly make the other options more attractive.

Some post-officers seem to have a sixth sense for detecting money in a letter. If you ever wondered how these small tears in the edge of the envelope appeared: they might have been made by somebody checking the inside. After that, even a small hole is big enough to get a banknote out. The trick is easy. Take two cocktail sticks, put one on each side of the bank note and start turning them, until the entire note is rolled around the sticks, after which it can easily pulled out of the envelope without making a tear of more than a quarter inch. If this knowledge doesn’t discourage you enough, please also realize that in rural areas, letters are often not delivered but kept at the post-office, often a small office inside the municipal hall. If a neighbor happens to pass by, he gets all letters for delivery to people in his barangay (neighborhood) – and the temptation to look inside on the long walk home can be quite big.

Finally, it is a hassle for the recipient to exchange small denominations (such as one-dollar notes), and although not impossible, the recipient will receive a bad exchange rate. If you have some left-over 20 or 50 peso notes after your trip, carefully folding one or two inside a letter can be nice little gift for the recipient. That is, if they arrive at all.

Using Philippine Banks Abroad

A number of Philippine banks have conveniently opened branch offices in the US and Europe. They normally require the recipient to open an account with a bank in the Philippines (which can be somewhat inconvenient, as most banks require a minimal balance of about 5000 pesos, more than a month’s salary for many people). However, they work quite efficient, and the money is normally available to the recipient within a week. This is currently my preferred method of sending money.

Sending Personal Checks

In my experience, sending checks or using bank transfers using banks in your own country is both expensive and time-consuming. I’ve had money transfers from my own bank in the Netherlands to the Philippines take up to six months, and then, they can cost over 40 euros. Personal checks can be extremely difficult to cash, and fees will be subtracted from the amount. They can take up to several months to clear. Not really recommended.

Specialized Money Transfer Agents

There are a number of companies specialized in sending money. They have in common that they are fast, but can be rather expensive.

Sending an ATM or Credit Card

Convenient if you want to sent money regularly to the same trusted person. Get a second debit or credit card from your bank (if possible with a separate account or low spending limit), and send it to the recipient. When the card has arrived, you can give them the PIN by phone. Some banks don’t like this, and might block the card if this is detected, so instruct the recipient not to use the card too often.

Depending on your bank, a transaction fee will be levied in the order of $1.50 upwards per transaction. The exchange rate is normally good.

When sending money to the Philippines, there are a variety of options of how to ensure your money gets there quickly and safely.

In case of an emergency you may need to know how to send money as quickly as possible. It is important to know your options when sending money to the Philippines. The most pressing thing to remember is don’t panic. Prepare now to have everything in place to initiate a transfer when necessary.

When transferring money online through an on-line or real-time facility such as ATM Cash, the money can be available for the recipient almost instantly.

This is often the easiest and fastest way to send money to your loved ones in the Philippines. And you can make a transfer 24/7 from your computer.

Another way to guarantee a quick transfer of money to the Philippines is ensuring the recipient has an ATM or debit card. If the recipient is someone trusted, it’s often useful for them to have a bank card linked to your checking or savings account.

If you trust that the cardholder will only use the money allocated, they could have a card and PIN number so that they could take out cash through an ATM at all times.

A pre-paid debit card is another option if you do not want the recipient to have unlimited access to money. The debit card would be used just like an ATM card except that it is loaded with a specific amount of money.

The cardholder will have no access to funds until you have refilled the pre-paid debit card. At this time you could notify the recipient via phone that money has been added to the card.

Another way to send money quickly is by opening an account with a bank that has branches in both the Philippines and the U.S. This will help facilitate easier transfers.

These are some of the options of transferring money to the Philippines to ensure quick and safe delivery.

Everybody who is married to a Filipina sooner or later learns about the way how the family responsibilities work in the Philippines. The most important thing is, as there is no State controlled pension system for the old people, it is the responsibility of the children to support their parents or other family members when they do not have any money available. Of course every Filipina married to a foreigner is considered to be wealthy and everybody will ask her to bear the majority if not all of the support now.

So, even when it is possible to make it clear to your wife and to her family that you have earned or are earning your money still the hard way by doing some work, you still will be required to take part in the support of the family of your wife. So you will soon find out that it is quite difficult and quite expensive to transfer money to the Philippines using the normal banking system.

Sending money to the Philippines used to be a difficult, risky and time-consuming process. It wasn’t that long ago that Filipinos uses a network of their friends, like couriers, to send money.

But sending money to the Philippines has become very routine, easy, quick and inexpensive thing to do today. That’s thanks to the growth of the online remittance industry. Nowadays, there are several companies that offer the service of wiring money to the Philippines.

They all work toward the same objectives but there are some differences in their ‘packages.’ Some offer purely online ways of sending money to the Philippines but others work through local agents.

Many people sending money to the Philippines are Filipinos themselves. If they’ve been abroad for any length of time at all, they usually have a computer and know how to wire transfer the money. Many services work that way.

That’s okay as long as the person sending the money has a bank account that the money can be drafted front. It takes a credit or debit card and if there’s no money in the account then they can’t do the transaction.

But even if they do, the person receiving the money has to have a computer and Internet connection or know somebody who does. If those conditions are present, then sending money to the Philippines is an easy transaction to complete.

These transactions are totally safe. These companies take a variety of measures to prevent Identity theft.  In fact their operational procedures are so secret that they don’t even like to publicize exactly how they do what they do. There’s a lot of money involved in wiring money to the Philippines and the reputation of the companies that do it is very important.

The person picking up the money is usually picking it up in Philippine pesos but they can also get it in US dollars too. US dollars spend in the Philippines very easily since the Philippines have such a long history of association with the US.

On the ‘sending end’ of the transaction, the sender of course is using whatever local currency he or she is already doing. If he or she is in the US it’s US dollars but it could just as easily be French Francs, German Deutschmarks, Spanish Pesos or English pounds.

The first few times they do it, it’s a little strange but after they’ve done it a few times it gets very quick and easy to do. Sending money to the Philippines is something that all Filipinos do at one time or another.

Aiding  your kin overseas may  be as simple as originating a money  transfer to Philippines so that they can pay bills. As it happens, you  are not the sole citizen who needs to make  a money transfer to Philippines, which means that there are plenty  of methods to do so. Get to know the numbers  that made the big number of remittance methods  available.

Unlike a few areas, Philippines has  shown a steady increase in remittances to the  area, except of course in really recent years.  For example, in 1977, just over a mere $300 million was  transferred to the country, which nearly doubled  only two years later. By 1990, the numbers were  up to almost $1.5 billion, and they reached $6 billion  in 2000. 2006 saw yet another doubling of dollars, up to  nearly $15 billion. By 2007, Philippines was second only to  China on the list of countries who received the most  remittances that year, at $17 billion.

Since then, the transmittance’s  have reduced, which is bad news for many residents of Philippines. In fact, the transfer  growth dwindled to only six percent in 2009, which  is a large reduction compared to the double digit numbers seen  in prior years. Nonetheless, some experts claim that  the drop could help make the ability to make  a money transfer to Philippines less costly than before. This  is partially because a lot of people have less money  than they used to, and additionally because officials want  to encourage remittances as much as possible, especially  to the nations that heavily rely on them. Thus,  the decrease in transfers could turn out to  be a good thing for those who still have to make money  transfers.

Right now, there are lots of pathways available anyway.  A lot of people opt to use the traditional  route of either banks or money transfer agencies,  where fees go from about $10 to $45. Of  course, it usually depends on how much is being sent,  since many typical methods charge a percentage of what  is being transferred. If you send either a lot of  money at once, or transfer money regularly,  you should consider other avenues. One such choice  is the prepaid debit card, which charges a flat rate of $5 to  add funds to the card, which you would transfer to your  family members in Philippines. Clearly, this  could be the best method for you, unless you discover  a way to make a money transfer to Philippines for free equally  quickly.

Before you remit  capital home to kin,  you should get to know the information regarding  remittances. You should additionally put some thought into the  pathway you choose. Finding the fastest  and cheapest option can obviously benefit both you  and your recipients.

Sending money  home is often a necessary function, especially if  you have family members depending on you. If  you want to transfer money to Philippines, you should  consider some of the newer routes rather than the older  ones. This involves more reliable technology, like ATMs,  rather than depending on having money sent to your  recipient’s doorstep or a specified location.  First, you should find out if this technology is the norm in  the area.

The Philippines is known for  being quite up-to-date when it comes to technology,  as many of its banks use Internet and cell  phone banking. In fact, many also use the “Smart Money”  debit card, which is a MasterCard meant to be used in this nation.  Thus, the area and its residents are quite  familiar with debit cards and ATMs, so you may consider using  a prepaid debit card to transfer money to Philippines.

As your kin is probably aware of, ATMs  can be found just about everywhere in this  area. They may be attached to banks or independent, and they  are usually open daily. However, some ATMs do  run out of funds, especially on the typical  pay day or on weekends. This means that your relative should  likely withdraw funds using their prepaid  debit card on weekdays to ensure that they can get money out  when they want it. Also, it is crucial  for your relative to know that many ATMs impose  a daily limit of about 4000 Philippine pesos when it comes to withdrawals.

Of course, if they cannot remove  cash when they want to, they do have the choice  of paying bills and buying products with  the prepaid debit card. Since some companies in the country permit  online bill pay, it is possible to input the card numbers online  to pay bills, just as many people in the United States do. Additionally,  since merchants and residents alike in the Philippines are  used to debit cards, most retailers do accept them. This means  that your relative can purchase groceries, gas, and  other necessities when you transfer money to Philippines using  a prepaid debit card. However, many facilities do charge a fee equal  to around 7.5 percent of the total transaction when  consumers use a credit or debit card, so your relative  should find out if this is the case before shopping.

Clearly, transporting  wealth to Philippines with a debit card is very  possible, and is likely to be convenient for your family. As long as they know the rules associated  with ATMs and retailers who accept cards, they should  be satisfied with this technique. Of course, talking to your  relative before you transfer money to Philippines with  a prepaid debit card might be your best bet to make sure they  are comfortable with this technique.

Now we can send money to the Philippines online the cheapest way. Money transfer has never been so accessible, secure and affordable. Wherever country you are, sending money to your love ones will just be a click away. To some, a corner away. In minutes, your money will be received by your love ones abroad electronically.

Filipinos are everywhere around the world, working, living or exploring overseas. Millions of Filipinos are exploring abroad to bite any work opportunities not only because the economy in the Philippines is poor but simply because the exchange rate is an awesome advantage when you came back to your mother land.

Earning in dollar, euro, yen, riyal or pound and being away from home, you must know the best and legal ways to send and transfer money to your loved ones in the Philippines. Many agents cater money transfer services worldwide and international money transfer is just a click away in the modern world. Anyone doesn’t need to go to a money transfer outlet to send money overseas because anyone can now send money online.